Tolerate: to allow;exist or occur without interference.
Intolerance: unable or indisposed to tolerate; unwillingness to recognise and respect

I have always considered myself quite a nice person. I like food of all shapes, flavours and colours. From every country and continent. I don’t discriminate, I am an equal opportunity eater. It’s only the doctors who say I’m intolerant. And certain foods who refuse to tolerate me. They certainly refuse to recognise and respect my right to eat them without major physical discomfort and distress.

Gluten and lactose are not my friends.

Despite the negative attitudes surrounding me from many of those I love best, (cakes, ice cream, hot toast) I decided to become a chef. Not always easy when you live in a bread and milk filled world. I like to think that this has helped me become a better person as I embrace my differences and refuse to let the gluten get me down. I believe InTolerance. I am the InTolerant Chef.

Food should not be about what you can’t eat, but what you can and what you enjoy eating. This blog is about my journey of cooking and eating and discovery. It’s not a definitive guide to allergy awareness nor do my intolerances make me an expert. Your body is your responsibility, not mine. I only know what works for me.

I can tell you this..... No glutens were harmed in the making of this website.

November 17, 2010

Get Some Mork's On Your Fork

I love Thai food.

If I could only have one cuisine to live on for the rest of my life, I think I would choose Thai. It just has it all; warming curries, cool salads, all the taste ticklers-sweet salty sour and hot, rice not nasty gluten based. Really, what's not to love.

I have numerous books on the subject of Thai food, I have done my due diligence in researching the local take on Thai cuisine (with varying degrees of yumminess), I have attended the Thai Embassy and Thai Temple open days and food fairs, etc etc etc

But... If you are interested in something you may as well learn from the master. With this in mind, I have recently been attending some Thai cookery classes at icook culiary college, Mawson, led by Mork, from Morks restaurant in Florey.

Despite my love of Thai cusine, I wouldn't have been tempted to spend this amount of money on 4 classes if the teacher hadn't been Mork. He is a lovely, engaging young guy who really knows his stuff. His family has run their own restaurant for many years before opening Morks, which has a bit more of a contemporary twist and is more up scale than the usual neighbourhood place.

BigJ and I love the food at Morks. I even wrote a post with a review of their fantastic food, but somehow there were no photos to put with it! So when I saw these classes advertised in the Canberra Institute of Technology short courses, I knew I wanted to go.

The classes covered a wide variety of tastes and recipes including many I'd never experienced before. We did pastes and salads, tofu and meat, veggies and desserts- yumm! All ingredients were covered in the price, and we all sat down together for a communal meal at the end of each class and even shared a glass of wine or two!

This is a very simple recipe that was one of my favourites from the classes. It's not complex like the curries, or zingy fresh like the salads, but the smooth silkiness of the eggplant coupled with the chilli was delicious and I thought I'd share it with you.

Grilled Eggplant with a Chilli Paste Dressing

1 Tbsp Chilli paste with soybean oil - we used the Pantainorasingh brand

3 Tbsp lemon or lime juice

3 Tbsp fish sauce

1 Eggplant sliced lengthways

1 Tablespoon of fried asian shallots

1 Bunch of corriander

Grill the eggplant in a little oil until soft and caramelised.

Combine lemon juice, fish sauce, and chilli paste until well mixed

Arrange eggplant on plate and dress with sauce.

Chop corriander aand sprinkle over dish.

Garnish with the fried shallots and serve.

This has been a hetic week for us here, hence the lateness of this post. BigJ amputated his top finger joint on the weekend, and after several days in hospital, surgery and many medications later, we are back home and everything is looking hopeful, thank God, because it could have been much worse. Lets just say that the next time he uses a power tool, the dog will be tied up securely out of the way. I can say that I have never driven so fast in my life, but thankfully no policemen were inbetween me and the hospital, because I really don't think I would have stopped for anything. littlej also heard many interesting words for the first time, and we can but hope they aren't seared in her memory forever!

I'm with you - I could happily eat Thai food every day for the rest of my life. There are just so many layers of flavor in every dish!

And good for you for splurging on the class! I think that Thai is one of those cuisines that you can sort of wing by yourself, but to really nail it, you need to be shown how. I have a friend who's Mom is from Thailand and she's agreed to teach me to cook Thai in exchange for some garden produce and chicken from the farm. :)

Like you, I love Thai food. I don't blame you for splurging - or perhaps investing - in the class. I think there's a similarity between Thai and Indian food techniques - I use a lot of what I know about Indian food when trying Thai recipes...

Love Mork. Love him....., but ever so glad Big J is OK and that your Fangio driving tactics came in handy...., Oooohhhh, don't you just hate a fright and terrifying time like this. Thai food = loveTrue love for sure....

Oh my goodness! i cannot begin to imagine how scary (and bloody) that must have been. SO glad things are looking better now.We risked a speeding ticket when my son (3 years old at the time) could not breathe. It ended up that he had pneumonia and croup at the same time and his airway was totally closing up. Husband literally drove 100 mph to get there. Not a fun few days in the hospital. We got there faster than an ambulance could have ever gotten to our house and gotten him to the hospital.And as far as Thai food. It is my ABSOLUTE favorite! I make it, eat it, order it any chance I get. I would love to try out this recipe it looks awesome.

I'm hearing ya, I love Thai food as well, but can you believe, I just came back from a 10 day trip to Thailand and ate hardly any at all. Being pregnant does change your food cravings or wants and I was devastated my usual hankering for Thai had just disappeared :(((

About Me

The InTolerant Chef is the nom-de-plume of The InTolerant Chef.She lives in Canberra,Australia,with her husband Big J, and 2 daughters, Little j and Middle C. Gluten and Lactose are not her friends. She also has many chemicals who refuse to tolerate her, and insulin finds her hard to resist. Despite all this, the InTolerant Chef is a healthy,happy person who loves cooking for her family and friends.